Celebrating Marian Arnold's 30 Years With ABC Classic FM

6 June 2011

Marian Arnold, one of Australia’s most loved radio personalities, presents some of her favourite requests from ABC Classic FM program All Time Classics. This triple-CD set features performances by some of the finest musicians and ensembles in the world, including Dame Joan Sutherland, Trevor Pinnock, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Genevieve Lacey, Wiener Philharmoniker, English Chamber Orchestra and many more.

Since joining ABC Classic FM as a producer/presenter in 1981, Marian has been on the airwaves in every time slot there is, from the midnight-to-dawn shift, which Marian admits was a challenge (particularly at 3am), to the breakfast program – also a challenge, as she was pregnant at the time!

“I’ve seen a lot of change,” says Marian. “When ABC Classic FM moved to strip presentation, in the later 80s, I was the first presenter of weekday mornings, and 21 years ago, in 1990, to my great joy, I inherited Listener Requests. This was one of the happiest days of my broadcasting life, and from the moment I started, I knew I wanted my stint at the helm to be a long one.”

Her most recent and exciting challenge has been her new program All Time Classics. “There are now so many ways that music lovers can access music, and although the request program has a huge listenership, the number of people actually requesting music in this particular way has begun to fall.” This is no barrier for Marian, however, as she takes on the new challenge of presenting the best-of-the-best classical music. Marian has taken it upon herself to present a program of “the music posterity loves and cherishes, and is most proud of.”

This 3CD set includes some of the immortal pieces that appeared in the first half-dozen programs of All Time Classics including excerpts from Prokofiev’s Cinderella, Scottish Fantasia for violin and orchestra by Max Bruch and Carl Vine’s Piano Concerto.

All Time Classics with Marian Arnold can be heard on ABC Classic FM on Sunday 10.05am – 12 noon.